In June, new vegan brand Outstanding Foods will launch its first product, PIG OUT vegan bacon chips. The chips were formulated by David Anderson, one of the co-founders of food-technology company JUST (formerly Hampton Creek) and a former chef at vegan brand Beyond Meat. Anderson and serial entrepreneur Bill Glaser partnered to create PIG OUT, a product Glaser said improves on bacon-flavored vegan snacks currently available to consumers. “We want to make it easier for everyone to eat more plant-based foods,” Glaser told media outlet Foodnavigator-USA, “not because they are being preached at or judged but because they taste incredible. Dave has created a completely new category in snack food. We’re not asking anyone to give anything up because bacon chips don’t exist right now. It’s something new, and it [tastes] just like crispy, crunchy bacon.” The chips are made from a proprietary blend of mushrooms and spices that are processed through a patent-pending technology. Outstanding Foods raised $1.5 million in investment capital—which included investments from vegan celebrities such as Daniella Monet and Emily Deschanel—and plans to develop new plant-based foods that displace their animal-based counterparts. Similarly, Christie Lagally (former senior scientist at food-advocacy firm Good Food Institute) announced this month that her new company Seattle Food Tech secured a $1 million investment to bring its vegan chicken nuggets to school and hospital cafeterias by the end of the year.

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